By IFC LLC

10 Things You Might Not Know About Tremors

Catch the Tremors movies this month on IFC.

Posted by Brian Steele on April 8thUniversal Pictures/Everett Collection

When Tremors was released, back in January of 1990, it was a flop. No one ran out to see this goofy horror flick with the guy from Footloose and the dad from Family Ties. Kevin Bacon himself considered it the nadir of his career, telling The Telegraph, “I broke down and fell to the sidewalk, screaming to my pregnant wife, ‘I can’t believe I’m doing a movie about underground worms!’” Then a funny thing happened. The box office bomb gained new life on VHS and cable, eventually becoming a cult classic. Now with four sequels, a SyFy channel series, and talk of a new show in the works, even Kevin Bacon can’t deny the film’s place in pop culture history. Before you catch the Tremors movies on IFC this month, whet your appetite with a few worm-y facts you may not know.

10. Slither has a Tremors Easter egg

Universal Pictures

James Gunn, the director behind the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, is a horror fanatic. He grew up obsessing over anything with a little guts and gore, from Night of the Living Dead to Shivers. But when it came time to make a big budget horror flick of his own, he wanted to emulate the tongue-in-cheek fun of one of his favorites, Tremors. Not only did his 2006 horror hit Slither feature some worm-based horror, but he even named the school where Elizabeth Banks’ character taught the “Earl Bassett Community School” after Fred Ward’s long-running franchise hero.

9. You can thank test audiences for that final smooch

Universal Pictures

Tremors original ending featured Val and Earl riding off into the sunset, before deciding they could never leave their spot of dirt in the desert and turning around. When test audiences got a load of the ending, they were not pleased. What happened to Rhonda, the pants-doffing, monster-fleeing love interest at the heart of the movie? They wanted some smooching, so that’s what the filmmakers gave them, quickly reshooting the ending to feature a big ol’ kiss that consummated the sexual tension that had been built up throughout the movie.

8. To get a PG-13 rating, the F-bomb didn’t fly

Universal Pictures

While thrilling, Tremors isn’t as racy as your average horror flick. But that almost wasn’t the case. The MPAA originally gave the movie an R rating due to some salty language. To get the more family friendly PG-13 mark, and presumably a larger audience, all but one F-bomb was dropped from the film. But what an F-bomb it is.

7. The original opening was creepier

The sight of Mr. Footloose relieving himself into a giant canyon perfectly kicks off the movie. But originally the film started with the town drunk’s mule becoming a tasty Graboid lunch. The darker opening was shot but ultimately scrapped by the filmmakers.

6. Michael Gross’ transition from sitcom dad to worm killing warrior took one day

Universal Pictures

Michael Gross, known to ’80s kids as the kindly dad from Family Ties, was ready for a new challenge as his long-running sitcom was coming to an end. When Family Ties wrapped its final season in April of 1989, he shaved his beard, caught a plane, and found himself killing worms in the middle of the desert the next day. He’s since gone on to star in every iteration of the franchise and regularly Tweets fun photos and stories from the Tremors set.

5. Shooting the movie gave Kevin Bacon sleepwalking nightmares

Universal Pictures

Kevin Bacon has admitted to suffering from anxiety. Battling killer worms in the middle of desert would no doubt exacerbate the issue. That may be why Bacon suffered from sleepwalking nightmares while shooting the horror classic. He says he would sometimes pick up his then pregnant wife, actress Kyra Sedgwick, “and sleep-walk and carry her out onto the street..She’d be like ‘Honey, honey, honey, you’re asleep!’ and I’d say ‘No! I’ve gotta get you out of here!'” It makes you wonder how fun his nightmares must have been when he was shooting She’s Having a Baby.

4. Finn Carter refused to rehearse the pantsing scene

As much as Tremors is remembered today for its killer worms and humor, there’s no doubt the most impressionable moment for boys of a certain age was when seismology student Rhonda LeBeck’s pants got caught in some barbed wire, and needed to be shed in a hurry lest she become a Gradboid snack. Actress Finn Carter refused to rehearse the scene, saying she wanted her response to be authentic on the day of shooting. Because there’s nothing worse than an inauthentic pantsing.

3. The original title changed because of an SNL sketch

Universal Pictures

Tremors is a catchy title, but the movie almost had a far more on-the-nose moniker. For most of pre-production, the film was known as “Land Sharks,” only changing the name when the screenwriter realized it bore a similarity to a certain famous SNL sketch.

2. The car scene was supposed to be more epic

Universal Pictures

Originally the film was supposed to feature a scene where a car is swallowed into the earth, pulling its terrified passengers to their deaths. Unfortunately, the special dirt employed to swallow the car kept hardening, leaving the car sitting there above the surface. Director Ron Underwood had to cut much of the scene, and simply imply the car’s destruction by showing headlights slowly tilting up towards the sky. The scene may not have been as graphic, but it certainly was no less terrifying thanks to some quick thinking.

1. The Graboid design was originally far more phallic

Universal Pictures

It took some doing to land on a design for the Graboid that everyone could agree on. Designers Tom Woodruff, Jr. and Alec Gillis originally planned for the monster to have a turtle-like neck, until everyone agreed it resembled a giant foreskin. Apparently producer Gale Ann Hurd said that when the designs were faxed over, “all the women in [her] office would pass ’em around and giggle.” Although, for our money, a giant penis that craves human flesh sounds like one heck of a horror movie.

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Make The Holidays ’80s Again

Enjoy the holiday cheer Wednesday December 21 at 10P on IFC.

Posted by Ben Cochran on November 30thPhoto Credit: Everett Collection

Whatever happened to the kind of crazy-yet-cozy holiday specials that blanketed the early winter airwaves of the 1980s? Unceremoniously killed by infectious ’90s jadedness? Slow fade out at the hands of early-onset millennial ennui? Whatever the reason, nixing the tradition was a huge mistake.

A huge mistake that we’re about to fix.

Announcing IFC’s Joe’s Pub Presents: A Holiday Special, starring Tony Hale. It’s a celeb-studded extravaganza in the glorious tradition of yesteryear featuring Bridget Everett, Jo Firestone, Nick Thune, Jen Kirkman, house band The Dap-Kings, and many more. And it’s at Joe’s Pub, everyone’s favorite home away from home in the Big Apple.

The yuletide cheer explodes Wednesday December 21 at 10P. But if you were born after 1989 and have no idea what void this spectacular special is going to fill, sample from this vintage selection of holiday hits:

Andy Williams and The NBC Kids Search For Santa

The quintessential holiday special. Get snuggly and turn off your brain. You won’t need it.

A Muppet Family Christmas

The Fraggles. The Muppets. The Sesame Street gang. Fate. The Jim Henson multiverse merges in this warm and fuzzy Holiday gathering.

Julie Andrews: The Sound Of Christmas

To this day a foolproof antidote to holiday cynicism. It’s cheesy, but a good cheese. In this case an Alpine Gruyère.

Star Wars Holiday Special

Okay, busted. This one was released in 1978. Still totally ’80s though. And yes that’s Bea Arthur.

Pee Wee’s Playhouse Christmas Special

Pass the eggnog, and make sure it’s loaded. This special is everything you’d expect it to be and much, much more.

Joe’s Pub Presents: A Holiday Special premieres Wednesday December 21 at 10P on IFC.

A Guide to Coping with the End of Comedy Bang! Bang!

After five seasons and 110 halved-hour episodes, Scott Aukerman’s hipster comedy opus, Comedy Bang! Bang!, has come to an end. Fridays at 11 and 11:30P will never be the same. We know it can be hard for fans to adjust after the series finale of their favorite TV show. That’s why we’ve prepared this step-by-step guide to managing your grief.

Step One: Cry it out

It’s just natural. We’re sad too.

Step Two: Read the CB!B! IMDB Trivia Page

The show is over and it feels like you’ve lost a friend. But how well did you really know this friend? Head over to Comedy Bang! Bang!’s IMDB page to find out some things you may not have known…like that it’s “based on a Civil War battle of the same name” or that “Reggie Watts was actually born with the name Theodore Leopold The Third.”

Step Three: Listen to the podcast

One fascinating piece of CB!B! trivia that you might not learn from IMDB is that there’s a podcast that shares the same name as the TV show. It’s even hosted by Scott Aukerman! It’s not exactly like watching the TV show on a Friday night, but that’s only because each episode is released Monday morning. If you close your eyes, the podcast is just like watching the show with your eyes closed!

Step Four: Watch brand new CB!B! clips?!

The best way to cope with the end of Comedy Bang! Bang! is to completely ignore that it’s over — because it’s not. In an unprecedented move, IFC is opening up the bonus CB!B! content vault. There are four brand new, never-before-seen sketches featuring Scott Aukerman, Kid Cudi, and “Weird Al” Yankovic ready for you to view on the IFC App. There’s also one right here, below this paragraph! Watch all four b-b-bonus clips and feel better.

Binge the entire final season, plus exclusive sketches, right now on the IFC app.

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The Four-Day Sweatsgiving Weekend On IFC

This long holiday weekend is your time to gobble gobble gobble and give heartfelt thanks—thanks for the comfort and forgiveness of sweatpants. Because when it comes right down to it, there’s nothing more wholesome and American than stuffing yourself stupid and spending endless hours in front of the TV in your softest of softests.

So get the sweats, grab the remote and join IFC for four perfect days of entertainment.

It all starts with a 24-hour T-day marathon of Rocky Horror Picture Show, then continues Friday with an all-day binge of Stan Against Evil.

By Saturday, the couch will have molded to your shape. Which is good, because you’ll be nestled in for back-to-back Die Hard and Lethal Weapon.

Finally, come Sunday it’s time to put the sweat back in your sweatpants with The Shining, The Exorcist, The Chronicles of Riddick, Terminator 2, and Blade: Trinity. They totally count as cardio.

As if you need more convincing, here’s Martha Wash and the IFC&C Music Factory to hammer the point home.